Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 1938; Kaufmann won a Gold Medal (for the Los Angeles Times Headquarters #2) in the Industrial and Commercial Architecture Division of the U.S. Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition, 1937; he was awarded the Legion of Merit, for US Army service in World War II.

Born in Forest Hill, London, England, Kaufmann moved to Vancouver, BC, after graduating from the London Polytechnic Institute, c. 1908. After spending about six years there, he took a Great Northern Railway train through Blaine, WA, where entered the US on 10/11/1914. He first settled in Fresno, CA, in 1914-1915, and relocated to Los Angeles by about 09/01/1915. In Los Angeles, Kaufmann moved repeatedly between his arrival in 1915 until the early 1930s. The Los Angeles City Directory of 1915 reported that Kaufmann lived at 5931 South Flower Street in that year (p. 1171). Two years later, he, his wife and two children occupied at bungalow at 762 North Holliston Avenue, in Pasadena's Bungalow Heaven neighborhood. The US Census of 1920 documented Kaufmann, his wife, Eva, and their two sons living at 676 La Loma Road in Pasadena. Noted tilemaker Ernest A. Batchelder (1875-1957) lived nearby at 626 Arroyo Drive in 1920. A year later, they lived at 1600 East California Boulevard in Pasadena. By 1923, they had another Pasadena address at 365 South Menton Avenue. (Pasadena City Directory, 1923, p. 474.) In 1930, he lived in a rented dwelling at 306 Westmoreland Avenue in Los Angeles with his son, Kenneth, and a German nephew, Gustav C. Kaufmann. He lived two doors down from the architect Winchton L. Risley (1887-1975), and his wife, Una (1890-1942), who owned a house at 314 Westmoreland. Kaufmann, his second wife, and sons lived at 620 South Sierra Bonita Avenue in Pasadena in 1936. (He and his family lived at this address from at least 1933-1939.) He had moved to 627 South Carondolet Street, near MacArthur Park by the 1940s. Kaufmann died in Los Angeles at the age of 60, and was buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA, next to his wife, Elsie, who survived him by 19 years. At his death, Kaufmann still had £320, 2s. 1d. in English bank accounts.

His father was German, his mother, whose maiden name was Cook, was English.

Kaufmann married twice. He first wed Eva A. Kaufmann (born c. 1886 in English-speaking Canada), with whom he had two sons; he was married to her from c. 1911 until at least 1923, when they both lived together according to a US Census form. Eva's parents were born in Canada. He married his second wife, Elsie S. Bryant (b. 04/24/1890 in Hoboken, NJ-d. 06/07/1968) on 08/04/1933.

He and his first wife had 2 children: a son, Kenneth M. Kaufmann (born 04/01/1912 in Vancouver, BC), who resided with his parents in 1936 and worked as a draftsman for his father. He lived in Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA, at the time of his father's passing; a daughter, Cecil, was born 12/09/1913 in Vancouver, BC, and also resided at home in 1936. She had married by 1949, and was known as Mrs. Thomas E. Dawson, living in Flintridge, CA.

Member, California Club, Los Angeles, CA; Member, Bohemian Club, San Francisco, CA; Kaufmann was active in the Boy Scouts of America and served as President of the Los Angeles Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1948; Kaufmann applied for naturalization in the US twice, first on 06/24/1915 in the Superior Court of Fresno, CA, and then on 10/11/1933 in Los Angeles, and was granted citizenship on 05/04/1936, in the Southern District Federal Court, Central Division, Los Angeles, CA. (The naturalization certificate was dated 11/27/1936.) His naturalization form indicated that he stood 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds, with a medium complexion and gray eyes. The contractor Karl P. Lowell and the architect Rowland A. Crawford served as witnesses at his naturalization. Lowell and Crawford testified that they had known Kaufmann since 01/01/1931.